Wire-drawing machine.



J. A. HORTON.

WIRE DRAWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION HLED'FEB. 2|. 1918.

I Patented Dec.

SHEET I.

2 SHEETS- T] inventor J. A; HORTON. WIRE DRAWING MACHINE. M L-30mm FILEDFEB. 2|. 1918.

1,323,282. Patented Dec. 2, 1919' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITE-i) SM'rES PATENT enr ch.-

JAMES A. HORTON, OF. BELMONT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNCBI, BYMESNE.ASSIGN-..

MENTS, TO CLINTON-WRIGHT WIRE COMPANY, CORPORATIOTI F MASSACHU- SETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- WIRE-DRAWING MACHINE.

Patented Dec. 2,

Application filed February 21,-1918. Serial No. 218,435.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that, l, Janus, A. Hom'ox, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Beltron-at each die.

lnont, in the countyof Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented new and usefullmprovements in Wire-Drawing Machines, of whichthe following is a spccification.

This invention relates especially to wiredrawing machines organized todraw wire through a series of dies at one continuous o eration, making afixed amount of reduc- The invention includes means by'which- 'theexcess in breaking strength over the amount of pull on the wire to causeit to pass through a die, isutilizedto gage the speed of the drum whichis pulling the wire through the'die.

In a continuous wire-drawing machine, the different drums are rotated ata progressive speed, from a comparatively slow speed for the first drumto an increased speed for each succeeding drum, ceding drum, in order totake up the extra length of wire due to its reduction in diameter andconsequent elongation at the die.

. be worn into grooves very quickly,

In practice,'it is found that the dies are.

not a ays of the exact size for which -the different speeds have beenfigured, due to the fact that the material of the wire may be so variedthat the reduction at the dies has to be slightly varied, or that one ormore dies in the series may wear slightly more than another, or others.Either condition causes the elongation to vary in proportion to thechange in size due to wear, or as otherwise mentioned.

. For these reasons, in continuous wiredrawing machines, the-drawingdrums have, heretofore been rotated at a speed in excess of the travelof the wire, and the wire is allowed to slip on each drum, except-thefinisliing or storing drum which heretoforeihas not been rotated as fastas the elongation of the wire calls" for, but is slowed down so as toallow a slippage on all preceding drums. This slippage causes thedrawing drums to so that they have to be trued off. Also the slippageremovesthe coating from the wire, which remain seriously interferes withthe passage'g'f the wire'throngh the dies. In the present invention, theobject is to so drive the drums. that the speed of each willautodisclosed in any previouscontinucus wireabove the next pre.

matically match the elongation of the wire at each preceding die. Inaccordance with my invention, when the wire is being drawn through adie, it is not pulled to thebreaking oint, but a mar in-is left abovethe brea (in point, and when a preceding drum is not celivering fastenough, the loader pull throii'gh the die is increased,: and the extra.load on the drum drawing the wire through the die will cause the drumto; be slowed down to match the wire delivered to the die, plus theelongation at the die.- v H his I believe to be a new feature,not

drawing machine.

The means for accomplishing the result I will now. roceed to describe,

A ny suita lile frame adapted to receive the various parts, main drivingshaft with gears ior driving the wire-drawing drums through drivingmembers connected' with the drums, .for driving the latter. Dies innumber to correspondwith the number of drawing drums are provided. Inthe mjachinefdescribed there are five dies and five drums. The firstdrum-does not need'the compensatingor governing device hereinafterdescribed, because it is receiving its wire inunlimited amount to fitits revolutions. The other drums are all fitted to compensate forvariation of speed and each will automatically regulate itself to thespeed at which the wire is delivered from a preceding drum,.p'l us'theelongation.

Of the accompan ing drawings forming a li art of this speci cation,Aigure 1 IS a top plan view of a continu-- ous wire-drawing machine,embodyingthe i nvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, partly in section. y l

. Fig. 2 is a section on 'line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. a section on line33-43 of Figsfi-l and 4.

.Fig. 4 is a section on line 44 of Fig.3. Fig. 5 is a section on line5-5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a section on line 6--(3-of Fig t. Fig. 7 is asection on line 7--7 of Fig 3.

Each of Figs. 3 to 7. inclusive is on a larger scale.than Figs. 1, 2 and2. V

My inventionis embodied in a wire-drawing drum 13, of any suitableexternal form,- a driving member hereshown as a positively driven shafton whi'chthe drum is loosely is provided, and a suitable mounted, andtorque-transmitting means interposed between the driving'mem'ber and thedrum, adapted to automatically control the speed of rotation of the drumby the excess strain on the wire above" that reguired to draw the wirethrough an ordiwire-drawing die 12, accompanying an preceding the drum.The drum may be one of a 'SGI'IBS of loosely mounted drums 13 inc.continuous wire-drawing machine, a separate driving member and aseparate drawing die being xprovided for each drum. The last loosely Ashere shown, the drums, excepting the.

' storing drum, are assembled in two tiers,

note Figs. 2 and 3, each tier including. two drums, the first tier beingcomposed of the positively driven drum 14: and one of the looselymounted drums 13, while the second tier is composed. of two looselymounted drums 13. The wire '10 passes from the initial drum llto thelower drum 13 of the second tier, thhii' to the drum 13 of the firsttier, then to the upper drum 13 of the second tier, and then to thestoring drum. The arrangement of the drums in tiers requires I theemployment of two forms of driving members, to wit, shafts 16 and 16 todrive the-upper drums of the'tiers, and quills or tubular shafts 17, l7,to drive the lower drums, said quills surrounding said shafts,

and the hub of the initial drum 14, which is the lower drum of the.first tier, being keyed rigidly at 18 (Fig. 2) to the quill 17, whilethe lower drum of the second tier is loosely mounted on the quill 17.The driving member of the storing drum is a shaft 16 on which th storingdrum is loosely mounted.

The several driving members are posi-' tively driven by any suitablemechanism, at successively increasing speeds. The quill 17 is driven ata relatively slow speed. The quill 17 is'driven faster than the quill17. The shaft 16 is driven faster than the quill 17. The shaft 16' isdriven faster than the.

Shaft 16, and the shaft 16" is driven faster than the shaft 16". Saiddriving mechanism may include a main driving shaft 20,a series of bevelgears 21 fixed to said shaft, bevel gears fixed to the sllaftilli. 1.6"and 16". and hovel gears 23 lixed to the quills 17 and 17".

her, one of said shoes havin 30 receiving one of the studs 29, and the Iwill now describe :the preferred arm of torque-transmitting means,interposed 'be- I tween the loosely mounted. drums '13" and theirdriving members,- said identical in each of, said drulns, description ofone -.will begsuflicient.

Referring to Figs. 3,4,5, 6 and .7 25 desigus being" that a nates aclutch support formed as a plate 10- .cated within the recessed bodyofthe drum and having an aperture loosely surrounding the member whichdrives the driIlm," S0 that;

the plate and driving member may turn" in-fdependently. To the plate25"is connected by av pivot stud or fulcrum 26, (Fi 6), -a

double bell-crank lever, compose of a curved longer arm 27 and twoshorter arms 27 formed as ears on one end of the lon er arm andprojecting oppositely from the ulcrum-26. The longer arm 27 has atitsopposite end an ear 27 engaging arecess 28 in the drum 13. To'theshorter arms .27 are connected by pivot studs 29 two arcuate shoes 30constituting a friction clutch formed I to embrace a portion of thedriving-mem- 0 an offset car other shoe having an ear: 30- rece'i'vingthe other stud 29. Vhen the driving m her is a shaft, the portionthereof embraced by. the friction clutch is, an em largement 31 of theshaft, as shown by Fig. 5'. and when the driving member is a quill..said portion is a part ofxthe quill, as' l. shown by Fig. 7. Each shoe30 includes a metal body and a compressible frictional falcing 30 ofmaterial such as leather, inserted in a recess in the and contactingwith the driving member. dlach shbe 30 has an car 32, said cans beingseatedfon shoe abut-( ments 33 fixed to the support 25. One of saidabutmcnts may be .provided With an'adjust-able portion 3+ formed-as ascrew, and.

making provision. for taking up wear of the facings 30. Seated at oneend on an adjustable spring abutment 35 in a housin 36 on the support-25, is a spring 37, the 0th of which is seated on the arm 27.

.116 er (and The stress of the sprin 37 is such that it normally acts onand rough the 'longer. arm 27 and the shorter arms 27? to maintain theshoes 30 of the friction clutch in grip. ping contact with the drivingmember, so that the drum is causedto rotate in.umson witlr the drivingmember, through the con nectionafforded by the ear 27 and recess 28,This condition prevails when the resistance to theadvancmg movement ofthe wire through the preceding die is such that the pull or strain onthe wire by the urn is considerably less than that reqqi'r "to break thewire, the pull exerted on Tthewire by the drum being suflicient only"match the resistance of the.wire due to its reduction in diameter by thepreceding die,'. and being insuflicient to break the. wire, ,"or, in

. for the main shaft .20.

other words, less than the breaking strain of the wire between thepreceding die and the drum. v

Whenever, from any of the causes mentioned inthe introductory portion ofthis specification, the resistance to the advancing movement of the wireis increased, the drum immediately slips on its driving membersufficiently to retard its rotation to that required to match theelongation of the wire.

This result is due tothe yielding of the I spring 37, and the consequentrelaxation of the grip of the friction clutch on the driving member.Nhen'the' spring yields, the lever swings on the fulcrum 26 in the direction required toslightly. move the pivoted ends of the shoes fromeach other, and

thus relax the grip of theiriction clutch on" the shoes 30,.and the ear27" on the longer arm 27 and engaged with the drum, eon

stitute connections between the spring '37, the frictionclutch, and thedrum, organized to transmitthe-pressnre of the spring to the clutch andto transmit motion from the clutch to the drum. Said connections may bevariously modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The frame to of the machine is provided with suitable bearings 41 forthe driving members, these being'preferably formed on the top plate 42of the frame, as shown by Fig. 2. Suitable bearings are also provided Asimplied in the foregoing description and in the following claims, I amnot limited to the specific mechanism of the preferred embodiment ofmy'improvements shown by the drawings, except as otherwise required incertain of the more limited claims.

I claim: v 1. In a wire-drawing machine, awire drawing drum, a drivingmember therefor, and -torque-transmittin means between the drivingmembers and ruin, variable as to its torque-transmitting powersubstantially in inverse proportion to the stress in the,

wire drawn by thedrum.

2. In a wire/drawing machine, a wire-i drawing drum, a driving membertherefor, and torque-transmitting means between the driving members anddrum, having provisionfor regulating the torque transmitted to the drumby the stress of the wire.

3. In wire-drawing machine, in combination, a die, a drawing drum, adriving member for said drum and torquetransmitting means between thedriving member and the drum, automatically controlling the speed of thedrum by the excess strainon the wire above that required to draw thewire through the die.

'i'. In a continuous wire-drawing machine, in combination, a series ofdies, a series of driving men'ibers driven at successively increasingspeeds. a series of drawing drums including an initial drum fixed to thefirst driving member of the series, and a plurality of drawing drumsloosely mounted on the succeeding driving members, andtorquetransmitting means between the said loosely mounted drums andtheir respective drivin members, each adapted to regulate the spem ofits associated drum by the excess strain 'on the wire passing'to thatparticular drum.

5. In a wire-drawing machine, a driving member, a drumloosely mountedthereon, and torque-transmitting means between said driving member anddrum, including a friction clutch adapted to variably grip the drivingmember, a clutch support loose upon the drlvingmember, a spring fornormally maintaining the clutch in driven engage ment with the drivingmember, and connections between the spring, the clutch. and the drum,organized to transmit the pressure of the spring to the clutch, and totransmit 'tion from the clutch to the drum.

6. In a wire-drawing machine, a driving member, a drum loosely"mountedthereon.

and torque-transmitting means between said driving member and drum,including a sup port loose upon the driving member, and provided withshoe abiitments and a spring abutment, a friction clutch composed of apair of shoesadapted togrip the driving member andseated on said 'shoeabutments, a lever fulci umed on saidsupport and having oppositelyprojecting shorter arms pivoted to saidshoes and a longer arm engagedwith the drum, and a. spring interposed between said spring abutment andthe longer arm of the lever.

7 In a wire-drawing machine, the combination with a driver and awire-drawing drum independently rotatable with respect to the driver, ofa friction clutch engaged withboth the driver and the drum, a springtending to eifect'and maintain the torquedelivering engagement of theclutch, and means controlled by resistance of the drum to being drivenfor relaxing. such engagement of the clutch.

.8. In a wire-drawing machine, the combination with av driver having acylindrical surface and a wire-drawing drum concentric with androtatable relatively to said driver, of a clutch embracing said driverand having adjacent ends, a lever having two short arms engaged with therespective ends of said clutch,- a support on which said &

lever is fulcrumed, and a spring mounted on said support and acting uponthe lever with atendency to move the same in the direction which causesthe gripping of the driver by said clutch, said lever having an armextending. into engagement with the drum and being the means by whichrotation of the clutch is transmitted to the drum.

1 In a Wire-drawing machine, the combination with a wire-drawing drumand a driver, of a friction clutch interposed between the ,driver andthe drum for transmitting torque from the former-to the latter, andmeans wherebylagging. of the drum causes relaxation of the-clutch,

10. In a, wire-drawing machine, the combination with a wire-drawing drumand a driver, of a friction clutch gripping the driver landhaving endsadjacent to one another, adapted ,to be moved in'oppositedirections forrespective? increasing and relaxingthe'gripping e ect of the clutch, a

' support, a lever fulcrumed upon said support having arms connectedwith said-, nds and having athird arm in engagement with the drum, and aspring mounted on said sulp- 'direction'which tends to swing port andpressing against said lever in t the manner causin an increase in thegripping effect of the c utch. l

11. The combination with rotatable driving and driven. members, of anexpansible and coritTacti'ble friction .clutch engaged with on'eof saidmembers, a device for expanding' and contracting the vclutch con--nected withthe' other of the members, and a spring bearing uponsaiddevice and tending to move the same in the manner which causes clutchingengagementof said clutch;

12. The icoinbin ation with-rotatable drivdriven rotatable members,

Jsaid lever in ing and driven members, of. a clutch embracing one ofsaid members and. adapted to be expanded or contracted so as to release'causes the gripping of the clutch, the other of said members arm. 7

13. The combination with ing engaged with said driving and of anexpansible and contractible clutch adapted to be engaged with one ofsaid members and to transmit torque to or from the same, a lever engagedwith the other of said members and also engaged with said clutch, theclutch having two relatively movable parts and the lever having two armsconnected with said parts, a support on which the lever is fulcrumed,and a spring bearing upon said lever with tendency to eiiect coupling ofthe clutch. I

14. In combination with a driver and a driven member, a clutch engagingthe driver frictionally, a clutch controller engaging the driven memberand connected with the clutch in a manner causing relaxation of thegripping effect of said clutch upon l zgging ofthe driver. member, and aspring constantly applying force to said actuator tending to causegripping engagement of the clutch with the driver.

- Intestimony whereof I have affixed my signature.-

JAMES A; HORTON.

